Ridgecrest resident Kylor Lamotte Smith-Sims was ordered held to answer Thursday for first-degree murder and willful cruelty to a child, according to Kern County Superior Court records.

He appeared with his attorney for a preliminary hearing in the court’s Metro Division in Bakersfield.

Smith-Sims is charged with first-degree murder and willful cruelty to a child in connection with the death of 2-month-old Travian Gabriel Smith-Sims.

Ridgecrest Police officers arrested the suspect March 15.

The department began investigating March 6 when the infant was brought to Ridgecrest Regional Hospital after a medical call that the infant was not breathing at his residence in the 500 block of West Atkins Street.

The child was transported from Ridgecrest Regional Hospital to Loma Linda University Medical Center where he later died.

Smith-Sims is in custody without bail in the Kern County Jail’s Lerdo Medium-Maximum Facility.